We saw that Ferengi assassin ('Eliminators' e.g. Leck) and even Ferengi assassin drones/darts (I'm sure one was in 'The Nagus') and we've even seen Marauders challenge the Federation flagship so I think that the Ferengi do have some martial fever in their blood from time to time. They do have The Ferengi Commerce Authority and various tithes so they to me seem quite centralised in some respects with the FCA apparently having the power to remove a Nagus. Personally I can imagine them lauding over primitive feudal societies using their economic acumen, deceit (not to mention any minor race's dissatisfaction with their own technological progress ala Pakleds) and a hefty compliment of Nausicaans to dominate or at least manipulate various fiefdoms and star systems.In sum, I at least can see the Ferengi Alliance as although being fairly disperate having enough threads to form a cohesive whole if threatened by a unified external force and possible also able to act in sufficient numbers to cow some cultures.

I'm just seeing the difference between "could" and "would." Even our own 17th and 18th century privateers were less than reliable as military units, when they operated exclusively in areas of mercantile shipping... and the most succesful was driven by sheer diabolical bloodlust to the point at which even his own sponsors were disgusted by his actions - which matched those of the worst of the Inquisition.

And then we named a brand of rum after him.

"We've been over this. We don't shoot first and ask questions later.""Of course! We never ask questions."

Mikey wrote:Perhaps if the prizes are great enough. The problem is that of what we've seen of war in 'Trek, most of the action seems to be warship v. warship, with relatively little in the way of mercantile shipping. Replicators, and all that. If there is considerable commercial shipping, then privateering might be an option after all.

Deep Space Nine operated as a trade center. Of course, it was in a critical location, similar to cities on either side of the Panama or Suez Canals.

Replicators still need raw materials, and with the trading that went on in the DS9 episode "Progress", if it had been easier to replicate items than trade for something that was shipped from another star system, they would have.

So there is trade, it is just that the areas close to the core or key locations is patrolled well enough to reduce the amount. For frontier/colony worlds, how many times did we see Enterprise delivering something? It is a lot easier to be a privateer when your enemy doesn't use Galaxy class starships to transport supplies.

Now in Klingon space, there are likely privateers between the Houses, and the Houses don't mind since it gives the warriors on the transports something to look forward to. I can almost imagine the recruiting process for a Klingon transport:

"We need volunteers for the freighter going through the Kandesa sector. There have been two Federation ships that disappeared in there, but we did get partial distress calls saying they were being boarded. We don't know who or why, all we know is the enemy captured or killed all of them. Based on other sightings, we expect the aliens to be hostile, and to prefer engaging their enemies in hand to hand combat. The freighter's passenger spaces have been downgraded, so the only bunks are bare metal, but we can fit forty of you in there. The Federation has said the destination system has several tuns of blood wine to transport back to Klingon space if our ship manages to reach them. Who wants to on this mission, where they are likely to be attacked, boarded, killed, but plenty of blood wine to drink if they succeed?"

Of course there is trade... to wit, freighters full of self-sealing stem bolts and such. However, what we've seen of 'Trek seems to indicate that mercantile shipping occurs at a much lower rate than it did when Earth supported buccaneers/privateers. There have even been explicit mentions of piracy, but there has to be a pretty damned good chance of a privateer encountering a worthwhile prize at least, say, once a week or so, in order to support a privateer - especially a Ferengi one.

"We've been over this. We don't shoot first and ask questions later.""Of course! We never ask questions."